ABOUT SARAH
Sarah West is a somatic practitioner, dream worker, writer, artist, naturalist, and wilderness guide living amidst the wild beauty of Moab, Utah.
She is an archaeologist of the inner world, following the traces of what lies beneath the surface: in the body, psyche, soul, and landscape of dreams.
Through somatic healing work, dreamwork, women’s retreats, and portrait work, she helps people release old patterns, rediscover forgotten gifts, and uncover the creative possibilities that make each of us truly unique.
SARAH WEST is a certified Somatic Practitioner and Educator, and a professionally registered member of the International Somatic Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA). She meets the high standards of practice and upholds the rigorous code of ethics.
My Background
My work has grown from years of professional training, personal practice, and a lifelong curiosity about what helps people heal, transform, and live more meaningful lives.
For twenty years, I have worked as a multidisciplinary artist in visual art, writing, photography, and dance. This creative practice shapes how I listen, attune, and respond with sensitivity in my work with others.
As a somatic practitioner, I have been in private practice for over seven years, integrating somatic healing work, Internal Family Systems (IFS), dreamwork, expressive arts healing, depth psychology, mindfulness, and nature-based practices for inner work.
My professional somatic therapy training includes five years at the Eastwest Somatics Institute, where I studied trauma-informed approaches to somatic healing, embodied dreamwork, nervous system repair, expressive arts healing, movement-based therapies (dance, yoga, and bodywork), and ecosomatics.
I completed three years of training with the Animas Valley Institute as a Wild Mind Guide, focusing on depth psychology, dreamwork, ritual, and nature-based soul work. I have also completed several Internal Family Systems (IFS) trainings including a specialized certification in Somatic IFS, along with years of personal IFS therapy.
My background in mindfulness is extensive. I studied at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the Bay Area, and trained as a mindfulness meditation teacher, guiding individuals and groups in sitting and walking meditation, as well as compassionate communication for many years. I have attended ten silent meditation retreats and hold three yoga teacher certifications.
I have taught yoga, mindful movement, and dance, and guided individuals and groups through nature retreats and multi-day wilderness quests.
I earned a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from the University of Utah where I did graduate studies in Human Evolutionary Ecology.
My cross-cultural learning has also been an important part of my path. I have spent time with the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert and learned from Australian Aboriginals. These experiences deepened my understanding that healing is always in relationship with the body, dreams, myth, art, animals, plants, community, and the earth. This relational, animistic sensibility informs all my work in the world.
Of all my teachers, the natural world has been the most enduring. I have lived close to wilderness for twenty years, including many years near Zion National Park and in the Moab area. The land continues to be a steady source of guidance, wisdom, and belonging, and it remains at the heart of both my life and my work.
For those interested in a more detailed professional training and background, you’ll find a more comprehensive list below.
A note about place
I live in the Moab Area, a place with a long Indigenous history. This land is the traditional and ancestral homeland of Ute, Paiute, Hopi, Diné, and Ancestral Pueblo peoples, and the wider Colorado Plateau remains home to many Indigenous communities today. I offer my work here with gratitude and respect for the people whose relationships with this place began long before my own, and a desire to continue being a steward here, learning from those who have tended this land for generations.
MY PHILOSOPHY
As a former scientist, with a background in the fields of archaeology and human evolution, I value empirical research, discernment, and holding a grounded practice while remaining deeply curious and open to the mysteries of the body, psyche, soul, and the wider universe. I do not believe science, mysticism, or traditional wisdom are at odds with each other. On the contrary, I believe they are all valuable lenses for understanding the world.
What Shapes My Work
My life has been enriched by years of engaging in earth-based, somatic, artistic, and contemplative practices.
I have been a hermit for most of my life, and especially so over the past five years. I live a deeply quiet life, tending to my creative and healing work and the wild places where I dwell.
Living as an artist has taught me the potency of creative expression—for healing, discovery, and contact with the deeper currents of the soul and psyche.
My bond with the earth, and kinship with the stars, the wind moving through leaves, the vastness of the night, the cliffs at dawn, the creatures who roam at twilight— feeds my wonder, curiosity, and deep need for an ecological spirituality. It provides the ground from which I stand.
My devotion to the mysteries of my soul— my unique life calling— has been shaped by time in wilderness and through regular yearly solo wilderness quests.
My dedication to my own inner work and healing, to beauty-making, and to living with reciprocity guides how I meet others— with care, respect, and a trust in each person’s own wisdom and inner knowing.
“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”
—Clarissa Pinkola Estés
TRAININGS & CERTIFICATIONS
Somatic Healing
Somatic Therapy Training Program with Sondra Fraleigh at Eastwest Somatics Institute (2014-2019)
Nervous System Repatterning, Expressive Arts Healing, Excavation of Body Memory, Trauma-Informed Therapy Approaches, Ecosomatics, Dance Movement Therapy, Movement Imagery. Embodied Dream Work, Dancing Dreams, Butoh, Focusing, Contact Unwinding, Effective Communication, Authentic Movement, Mindfulness, Somatic Education Training, Land-to-Water Yoga Training (500 hours), Somatic Bodywork Training: Feldenkrais, Craniosacral, and The Alexander Technique.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Parts Work
IFS Therapy Certification IFSCA Training with Derek Scott (2020)
Working with Unattached Burdens in IFS Therapy with Robert Falconer (2021)
Healing Medical Syndromes using IFS with Lissa Rankin and Dick Schwartz (2021)
Somatic Parts Work Certification with Francis Booth (2021)
IFS Circle: An introductory online program (2020)
Animas Valley Institute: Nature-Based Soul Work Training
Wild Minds Training Program (2019–2021)
Immersive training included Soulcentric Dreamwork, Council and Mirroring practices, Shadow Work intensive, Wilderness Quest facilitation, Soulcraft intensive. and creative process work in nature including Courting the Muse.
Co-led Animas Valley Institute group Wilderness Quest (2021).
Somatic Experiencing: Body-Centered Healing
Principles of Somatic Experiencing (2020)
Healing Trauma: Restoring the wisdom of the body with Peter Levine
Yoga as a Neurobiological-based Therapeutic Strategy with Joann Lutz
Polyvagal Institute: Nervous System Theory
Polyvagal Theory: A Neuroscience View Explaining Reactions to Safety and Threat with Dr. Stephen Porges, course (2019)
Hakomi Institute: Somatic Healing
Somatic Trauma Healing with the Hakomi Method with Manuela Mischke-Reeds (2020)
Hakomi Mindful Psychotherapy: An Experimental Introduction (2020)
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield (2019)
Mindfulness of Race, Retreat with Ruth King (2019)
Led the Zion Canyon Meditation Group, facilitated weekly sitting meditation, mindful walking, mindful eating, and compassionate communication (2014-2020)
Participated in 10+ multi-day mindfulness meditation silent retreats (2014-2020)
Yoga
Spirit Rock Yoga Teacher Training Program, 200 hours with Djuna Devereaux, Tias Little, Leslie Booker, and Ann Cushman (2019)
Eastwest Somatics Institute Yoga Teacher Training, 500 hours Somatic Land-to-Water Yoga
Gaia Tree Yoga Teacher Training, 200 hours, Springdale, Utah
Dance
Studied and practiced various forms of dance including: Modern Dance, Butoh, Metamorphic Dance, Authentic Movement, Ecosomatic Dance, 5Rhythms, and Contact Improv (2000-2025)
Wilderness First Responder
Wilderness Medicine of Utah, weeklong WFR intensive with Brian Essig (2023)
Wilderness First Responder Re-certification (2024)
Ways to Work Together
Somatic Healing Work
Move beyond traditional talk therapy. Listen to the wisdom of your body.
Trauma-informed sessions to support, self-doubt, repeating patterns, chronic stress, and painful past experiences, so you can move towards a truer expression of yourself.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) | Somatic Work | Expressive Arts Healing | Mindfulness | Nature Healing | Depth Psychology | Attachment & Relational Repair | Nervous System Support
Dreamwork Sessions
Through dreamwork, we explore the symbols, dream characters, animal guides, and recurring themes or nightmares, exploring what they may reveal about your inner world and the deeper threads of your life. This work can bring you into contact with stuck and forgotten parts of yourself, to heal, recover lost gifts, receive guidance, lighting your path forward.
Retreats
Creativity Retreats for women in Moab, Utah — to deepen your relationship with the land, your inner world, and your creative life. Through time in nature, you’ll be invited into a more intuitive, embodied way of listening— to yourself, to the natural world, and your creative spirit.
Portrait Sessions
Portrait sessions for men and women who want to be seen in a deeper way—not just photographed, but invited into an encounter with their own beauty, soul, and inner world. Held in the desert or forest landscapes in the Moab area.
“Sarah West is a river of love, compassion, and wisdom. She cares deeply for the earth and all life and dedicates her life to helping others. Love is the power that drives her and love is what she gives. Working with her is to work with a great soul with a great heart and is a huge privilege.”
-Micheal Philips, Nature Advocate
If you feel called to explore working together, I’d love to meet with you in a free 20-minute consultation.
